Nichole LaPlaca

Meredith was born on October 21, 2012 at 27 weeks, 3 days. She weighed 1lb 9oz and was 12.5" long and had IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction). During her 84 days in the NICU she received three blood transfusions. She was intubated for 3.5 weeks, on CPAP for a short period and that was switched to the regular cannula for quite awhile. She also suffered a collapsed lung during the beginning weeks of her stay. She was considered a slow gainer and needed to have a supplement added to breast milk for quite awhile. She failed her seven day countdown three times before she was finally able to come home. She spent several days in isolation after Christmas due to fear that she had RSV. Thankfully it was just a bad cold. She did not come home on any oxygen, feeding tube or monitors, but we did have to add the supplement to my breast milk to increase her calorie intake to help her keep gaining weight. She was also diagnosed with severe reflux. She came home on meds and had to have the head of her bed propped up to help with this.

Meredith started Early Intervention (EI) a month after she came home. She received physical therapy and feeding therapy with a speech therapist. She needed PT due to her right side being weaker than the left and feeding therapy due to choking issues while bottle feeding. She received PT until she turned three and she no longer qualified for services. Meredith had therapy for feeding issues and then as she began to talk it changed to actual speech therapy. She received speech therapy until two months before she turned three. She no longer qualified for speech services at that point.

She is happy, healthy 9 year old and in 4th grade as of December 2021. She still has some slight gross motor delays, but not enough to qualify her for PT services.